Monday, January 28, 2008

I don't usually pay attention to how many posts I have written but Darlene just posted her 300th post so I happened to check and notice that I was getting close to 200 so that is enough about that!

Recently I shared a picture of a little rug I am crocheting out of rags that my Grandma Otte had all rolled into balls before she died (way back in about 1970). I finished off her two balls of rags but want to make the rug a bit bigger so I went through my scraps for crazy quilt blocks and took the longer pieces and I will sew them together so I can continue crocheting that project. You can see how it looks so far. You can tell about where one ball ended and the next started because the fabrics were different from one to the other but then my fabrics will be different from all of hers also so I think it will be ok. Right now it is about 19" X 29".

I finished cutting out the pieces for four more flower blocks in each of the colors. I think I know what I will be doing for the alternate blocks but I decided I will wait to cut those pieces until I have the flower blocks done. I have put them off to the side for now. If I don't get to them before I will work on them at the quilt retreat but I need to make sure I get squares cut for my niece's quilt for the retreat and I think I will work on a baby carrier for another niece and her husband. She has one carrier that I made but they have three boys so they would like another one for her husband to use and he requested that it be a bit more masculine for him to wear. I found several yards of new striped denim at a thrift store that will be perfect so I will whip that up in the next few days probably.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Not only am I posting for the second day in a row (something I haven't been so good about recently), I also worked in my sewing room for a second day. I got my second block done today - this one is the blue flowers. Tomorrow I hope to cut out the pieces for the rest of the flower blocks and maybe the 9-patch blocks too. I think I will need some more of the fabrics for border since I only bought 1/2 yard pieces of everything except the background print.

I think I am going on a road trip soon down to Portland's Fabric Depot to look for the brown fabric I need for a couple of quilts and also fabrics for a quilt for my sister-in-law. I saw a quilt in the last Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting. It is called Victorian Stars. She wanted an Ohio Star quilt and she likes victorian type things so it is a perfect choice.

Well, I don't have time to write about my swap quilt so I guess that will give me something I can post tomorrow!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Remember this stack of fabric that my husband 'bought' for me for my birthday? Well, it has been sitting around waiting for me to get back to the sewing room for something other than playing on the computer! Yesterday I finally cut into it and now I have the first block made. I had to run out today for matching thread for top-stitching though before I could get it all put together. I am pretty pleased with the results and am anxious to cut out some more blocks. Half of the flower blocks will use the yellow fabrics and the other half will have blue fabrics - at least that is the plan at this time. The flower blocks will be separated by some nine-patch blocks I think. I could totally change my mind.

I am only allowing myself to get started on this project because I have my Four Seasons Quilt Swap - Winter quilt done and ready to put in a package to mail on Monday! I will probably post a picture then also. It turned out quite well I think!

I also need to get started cutting out scrap pieces for a quilt my sister and I will be making for our niece's wedding gift. We will be working on that at our quilt retreat in about 3 weeks. We will probably also each make another quilt using the same pattern and sharing pieces for that. i am so looking forward to the retreat! I hope I actually manage to accomplish something this time, last time was somewhat disappointing in the volume of finished items for me! I feel a change coming!

Monday, January 21, 2008

I am working away on my Four Seasons Quilt Swap Winter offering. I am doing the hand quilting now. Might even finish the quilting this evening and then it is binding and label. My first project this evening however was getting the long sleeves cut off and the legs shortened on 6 pairs of coveralls for the husband to wear for work. Now he can present a professional appearance without holes in the knees. The best news is that I should have at least 6 months before I have to start resewing seams that are wearing out.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

My sewing machine has been quite for such a long time. Life around here has just gotten crazy. On top of the usual business stuff there has been the broken car, my cold, dealing with cell phone companies, and the latest, someone trying to steal my husband's identity.

Our son lost his wallet a couple of weeks ago and the person who found it not only took the money but decided to take advantage of the information provided in the wallet - namely, my husband's ssn from our son's dependent's military ID card. As soon as we discovered the wallet was missing (within a couple of hours) we realized that the ID card was in it and husband got a credit report from the three credit bureaus.

Nothing much happened for about one and a half weeks and then Tuesday morning he discovered that someone had requested a $5K check from one of our credit cards to be sent to our street address (not our mailing address which is a PO Box). The request was made on Sunday so it hadn't arrived yet so we are having our mail held at the post office and we removed the mail box from the bottom of the driveway. So far, it hasn't gotten here but since the credit card company was notified and stopped payment on the check we should be ok.

So all our credit cards have been cut up and will be reissued with new numbers and passwords, the banks have been notified and we are working to do everything else that you are supposed to do in these situations.

The worst thing about this is that since we know the wallet was either lost at our little post office or at the bottom of our driveway, it is likely that whoever this person is, they live in our small community!

Friday, January 11, 2008

Today I had to do some running around again and part of it was taking my round robin quilt from my good friend and neighbor to my niece. I am not allowed to see it until it is done so it was sealed in a paper bag with threats written in Sharpie! I was good and did not open it but it was tempting! It is the one that started with this insane tree that I made and has since gone to the homes of some 14 other quilters who added one, two or three borders to it while in their possession. It is now with Katie and she is the last person to add borders. Needless to say, I am excited that it is so close to being done!

I picked up a few large crochet hooks at JoAnns to use some rag strips that my grandmother prepared to make a small (mostly) cotton rug. Here is what I got done this afternoon while waiting for the boy at the doctor. I have a fairly large bin of cotton that is in various stages of preparation for braided rugs also. I also got some different snowflake fabric to use for my Winter Four Seasons Quilt Swap project. I wasn't satisfied with the first fabric and didn't really have enough so I got a different one that I hope I will like better for quality and as well for design.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

I found some of the parts for the car with the boo-boo but they were 75 miles away and Seattle traffic looms in between here and there! So, I spent much of the day today on the road, mostly in traffic. The rest was spent waiting and killing time. Now I could have taken the ferry across Puget Sound but that still would have required a good bit of driving and would cost over $10 each way. Instead I took my new car and probably got over 40 mpg (being a hybrid it actually gets better mileage in traffic than at freeway speeds - one of those silver linings). For some reason traffic was pretty bad all day today even in sections where it usually isn't as bad - just my luck I guess.

On top of bad traffic I also was answering calls and pages on the way up. I did appreciate that my car allows hands-free talking so I could answer the phone while driving (pretty silver again). I did have to stop to return calls to customers however. Anyway, three hours later, I got to the wrecking yard and showed the nice Mexican guy who spoke only a little English which parts I needed and started waiting while he worked to get them off the wrecked car.

I answered a few pages but I got tired of waiting so I let the guy at the counter know that I would be back and went in search of some fabric stores (another silver lining, especially when you add in the built-in navigation system in the car). Would you believe that in a large suburban area north of Seattle there was only one quilt shop and two different chain stores. And, of course, none had what I was looking for! I got back to the wrecking yard and paid for my items (two of the major parts for several hundred $ less than new and several smaller ones thrown in - so lots of silver saved in that lining) and got them packed in the car and headed back to the traffic. It only took 2 hours to drive home again but it was dark and rainy on top of slow.

In the midst of all of my stuff, my sister ended up having to put chains on to go across the pass on her way home (she had the chains because my husband accidently ordered the wrong chains for the VW and got some that fit her car so she bought them from us - chains=silver-get it?) and the husband got stuck in someone's driveway and had to call a tow truck (no silver there, sad to say, except for the tow truck company).

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

My son has been generous with his recent cold and I am now feeling its effects. This does not make me overly ambitious in anything!

On top of that is my latest task of finding body parts for my 'old' car after it got damaged yesterday - don't worry, no one was injured unless you count my husband's pride. He was backing the car after picking it up after servicing and turned to soon and ripped the front bumper off and damaged the driver's front fender and headlight. He decided that since the bumper and fender just bolt on he should be able to replace the parts and then just have the car painted instead of turning it into the insurance company. So my job is to try to find the parts at a junk yard to save some money. So I guess there will be a father/son project going on for a couple of weeks.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

My sister has been visiting for a couple of days. Our goal during her visit was to bring the remaining boxes of our mother's and father's belongings down from my attic, go through it all and take pictures and then pack it all up again and put it in the attic.

A daunting task but we did get done. Though there are still a few clothing items that we forgot to photograph which I will do later this week probably. There are also letters from our dad to our mom that need to be scanned so everyone can have a copy and pictures that need to be scanned and divided up also.

Now we will post the photos on flickr and send a letter/email to all the children and grandchildren letting them know what is still there to see if anyone is interested in any of the items. Anything that is left at the end will be disposed of and we will be done.

It is time - my dad has been gone for over 10 years and my mom for over 5 already.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

This evening I got the Christmas boxes down from the attic. Time to get things all packed up and put away. Sounds like such work but I know it must be done! I am glad things are starting to settle down again. Larry was back to work today, Jakob will be back to school tomorrow.

The best thing about getting the house back to normal is my new futon covers. I got two because I couldn't decide between the two (and they were on sale). They both look great with the quilt that is usually on the back of the futon and the mini quilt that hangs on the wall. They also bring out the colors of the rug better than the old cover which is starting to look a little worn. Now I need to go fabric shopping for fabric for pillows for the futon and the floor by the fire and also for the seats of the two chairs in the same room.